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Two Eastside gang members have been found guilty by a Santa Barbara jury of first degree murder in the 2007 stabbing death of 16-year-old Lorenzo Carachure, while two others were found guilty of second degree murder.

Ruben Mize and Bryan Medinilla, both 19 years old but only 15 when the attack took place, now both face 25 years to life in prison. Ricardo Nava and Raul Diaz, both 20 years old but 16 at the time of the attack, face 15 years to life in prison for the murder. All four – charged as adults shortly after their arrest – were found not guilty on two attempted murder charges for attacks on Carachure’s cousin and friend, who were walking with Lorenzo at the time. The verdict came in just after 10:30 a.m. Monday and is the result of a second, month-long trial against the four.

While the attack, tucked away in the lower Westside, didn’t receive as much public attention as a stabbing homicide outside of Saks Fifth Avenue in March 2007, or a stabbing death just before the fireworks began on July 4, 2008, it did get the police department’s attention.

It took detectives several months to gather enough information to make arrests, which they finally did in May 2008. Later that year, much of the information they gathered led to the formation of Operation Gator Roll, a raid that took out much of the Eastside gang for a time. “It’s been a long case,” said prosecutor Hans Almgren after the verdict. “Detective [Gary] Siegel and the entire police department put in an incredible amount of work.”

The courtroom was full with officers, detectives, and gang investigators from the Santa Barbara Police Department, as well as DA Joyce Dudley and several attorneys and investigators from her office. The crowd underscored the importance of the case to those in the law enforcement community, one of whom had referred to Mize and company as “hard core gang members.”

As the verdicts were read one-by-one, the four defendants sat mostly still and expressionless. In the audience, Medinilla’s family was very emotional, crying and hugging one another. His older brother eventually spoke out at the jury, saying, “Shame on you, all of you, man. Shame on you,” before being kicked out of the courtroom, which was heavy with security. It didn’t appear that anyone from the Carachure family was present.

Afterward, James Crowder, attorney for Medinilla, questioned the verdict, saying the first degree murder conviction for his client was “not supported by the evidence.” Almgren said later there was “a lot of evidence” to convict.

But the real issue, Crowder said, is that his client shouldn’t have been tried in the same trial as Mize, who some have described as the “epicenter” of gang crime in the streets of Santa Barbara in 2007, despite his youth. “We thought Mr. Mize should’ve been severed,” Crowder said.

Mize will likely never be a free man again. In addition to his murder conviction, Mize has two more attempted murder convictions and a gang membership conviction for which he is yet to be sentenced. Mize took a plea deal in one, and was convicted by a jury in the other. He faces a total of 62 years to life in prison, and still has two cases outstanding: charges related to an alleged gang-related assault in Juvenile Hall, and an alleged gang jumping in.

This will be the third strike for Nava under the California three strikes law, which means he will actually be facing 25 years to life. Nava was convicted to 19 years in state prison in January 2010 after pleading no contest to a different attempted murder in 2007. During the first trial, all four were found guilty of being active members of a criminal street gang, a crime carrying a maximum penalty of three years.

A mistrial in the first Carachure murder trial was declared last summer after jurors couldn’t agree on a verdict of first degree murder against the four defendants. But Mize came away looking most culpable, having admitted on a tape secretly recorded by a confidential informant – his cousin – to being involved in the murder, telling him of a “kill shot.” The informant testified that Medinilla told him he stabbed Carachure in the stomach. As well, the prosecution played several songs in which Mize sings about taking someone’s life.

The evidence against the other defendants was more vulnerable to attack. It was largely based upon the testimony of several people – many of whom are ex-gang members or associates who took plea deals in their own cases in exchange for testimony – including Carlos Diaz, who drove the group to the Westside from the Eastside, and Emilio Mora, who was in the pick-up truck as well and admitted to throwing a bike on top of the victim as he lay bleeding on San Pascual Street. The two were both originally charged with murder in this case as well. Some of the witnesses also said Nava and Diaz admitted to them they were involved, though defense attorneys did their best to go after the witnesses’ credibility.

The second trial played out much the same way the first did, though with one additional witness, and one witness admitting on the stand he had lied during the first trial.

Prior to the first trial last summer, Crowder had filed a motion to sever, but the court ruled the motion was done too close to the start of the trial. Defense attorneys didn’t realize trying all the defendants at once would be problematic for them until right before trial began. After the first trial, the motion was made again, and again denied by Judge Clifford Anderson. Almgren said he never considered severing Mize from the other three.

The severance issue and different degrees of murder conviction will likely take center stage at a probable motion for a new trial when the four defendants are back in court May 9.

Sam Eaton, attorney for Diaz, had no comment after the verdict. Joe Allen, attorney for Mize, could not be reached, and Neil Levinson, attorney for Nava, wasn’t at Monday’s hearing. The members of the jury, who deliberated four days last week and only a couple of hours Monday morning, were unavailable after the verdict was read.

It's about time. Guilty is as guilty is. Have fun in the soapdrop galley, Ruben Esse Santa Bruta TRS Mize. You'll be well taken care of there for the rest of your miserable pathetic life. Maybe your older brother will join you before taking a class in remedial courtroom procedure. Hasta la vista, vatos!

Seems every time I click on the Indy online, I see yet another picture of Ruben Mize.

Isn't there some other Santa Barbaran whose photograph would be worthy of online front-page status? Perhaps a local high school student who won an academic award? A local businessperson who started a new high-tech company? A scientist at UCSB working to cure diseases?

Ruben Mize's photo is amazing because most of us do not understand what motivated him to get those tattoos in the first place. Also, anyone who has followed Ruben Mize's trial exploits has witnessed his seemingly demonic pursuit of crime and violence. And it all started when he was only 15 years old! Mize represents an evil dark side that we rarely see up close except in movies. We look for glimpses of our (society's) dark side, wonder how he turned out this way, and marvel at his willing self-destructive determination to place violent gang life at his very core. Prediction: Mize will live on in the violent epicenter of prison life. We will forget about him very soon.

I was in jury selection for the second trial. Got to spend a couple of hours watching these four kids during the process. Looked like they were having fun being the center of attention and out of graybar hotel on vacation. It was going to be near impossible to be objective after following the first trial in the media and I, for one, was damn glad to get off.

I certainly hope these guys enjoy the rest of there lives in the slammer. One can only hope that the Rueben gets to experience the same terror that he inflicted to many others.

"Mize represents an evil dark side that we rarely see up close except in movies. "

That we rarely see? Are you blind? Santa Barbara's crime rate is ridiculous for a town this size.

The reaction of Medinilla's family says it all - they don't get it - the whole family should be thrown out of the city for raising this scum. In fact all four families should be held accountable. Those criminals were raised by a families that are raising more just like the ones that just got put away.

And if you think it was just one bad apple from each family, damn are you ignorant.

The crime rate in Santa Barbara is considerably higher than the national average across all communities in America from the largest to the smallest, although at 42 crimes per one thousand residents, it is not among the communities with the very highest crime rate. The chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime in Santa Barbara is 1 in 24. Based on FBI crime data, Santa Barbara is not one of the safest communities in America. Relative to California, Santa Barbara has a crime rate that is higher than 60% of the state's cities and towns of all sizes.

These were kids, which as we all know, say and do stupid things. Unfortunately, these kids mistakes will haunt them and the victim's families for the rest of their lives. How likely is it that they will have the same opinion of their actions 10, 20, 30 years from now? How likely is it that we will?

Loonpt: Sbmale said "for a town this size" so using overall national averages isn't accurate so I would support his statement.

What is scary is that the Ruben Mize's are growing in terms of percentage

"Seems every time I click on the Indy online, I see yet another picture of Ruben Mize.

Isn't there some other Santa Barbaran whose photograph would be worthy of online front-page status? Perhaps a local high school student who won an academic award? A local businessperson who started a new high-tech company? A scientist at UCSB working to cure diseases?"

Sadly, the behavior of Ruben Mize is more indicative of a growing trend than the latter group you mention. Once upon a time, there were more honor students than gang members in our high schools. I wonder if the same can be said now and if so, how long before the gang members outnumber the honor students?

When they tell you to "Put your purse down next time" after your first real fight in the Pen they will be referring to your status because youngsters are treated like women in there, just in case you did not know. When your eyes close for the last time the last sound you will hear is a grate slamming shut with such finality that you will remember the first time you heard it, a long, long time ago. Good job! You fell for the machismo BS and now you can think about what a dumb choice you made to follow the illusion that you are tough and have imagined enemies, that only existed in your mind. It is sad that young people fall for the social BS, but then again, the bright ones do not. This crowd is as dim witted as you can get and deserve it all.

This is truly sad, i see nothing but wasted talent here, from the death of Carachure to these guys spending their youth years behind bars. Its very easy for those of us looking from the outside to point fingers and demonize these guys, and although there is no justification for the murder of Carachure, it does make me wonder; at what point during their childhood lives do they begin to stray into the ganglife? Sure, I understand that in many cases its generational, but come on, where does the violent cycle end? or will it end? and if thats the case, how can gangmembers be persuaded into becoming productive members of society? I believe, that educational intervention can help save many of these guys cought up in this game.

"it does make me wonder; at what point during their childhood lives do they begin to stray into the ganglife? "

According to an article I read profiling a woman who had been heavily involved in the gang life but who had become involved in trying to keep kids out of gangs, I remember her saying that these kids had "the look" as young as eight years old. "The look" meaning that long stare where they look right through people.

Education is obviously the answer but there is so much stigma in gang culture against education it becomes a moot point. I saw it when I went to Santa Barbara High back in the '70's. Group cohesion trumps self preservation in this case. As the saying goes: "cutting off one's nose to spite their face".

What is funny about education is that when these guys have the opportunity to do it, out here in the streets, they don't. But, once they are in jail, and have no productive means of using it, then they want an education. I was one of those bright kids Bill talks about, who got sucked into to this crowd, and I made choices that now in my 30's, I definitely regret. Even though I didn't enjoy prison, I am glad that I did go, because I can see myself being in Ruben Mize's shoes. I can see myself still rotting in there, if my carelessness had taken a life. I can also see myself not appreciating the family and wife I enjoy now, or the ability to go to school and do what I once wanted to do with my life. It took many hard times, and hard lessons to learn what it means to be part of this society and live a good, healthy, productive life. Many individuals will never get to see this(like the five people in this article), and that is sad. Even sadder is that there are a whole bunch of these knuckleheads just waiting to take a number, like Mize and his accomplices. What can we do? As much as nobody wants it to be their problem, sooner or later it does become everybody's problem. I hear many good suggestions and many bad ones, but all in all, what I see, are kids that don't get that parental attention in their lives. They need someone who is going to tell them what they are going to do and how they are going to do it. Sometimes it comes in the form of a relative, friend, even law enforcement. While locking them up and throwing away the key is our solution, that does not deter a young person from doing what they feel they need to do to gain trust, respect, and love. These kids sadly, don't always have that and fall to the call of the street. We can't go around adopting kids that aren't ours, but if we don't we end up doing something we still end up paying for their babysitter in prison.

I don't think anyone has the right to pass judgment on Ruben's character, Mock him about prison life, and call him profane names. With all regards to Lorenzo's family, if it wasn't Lorenzo it would have been Ruben. This was a gang fight and instead of ridiculing you should be grateful that the independent is making the city of Santa Barbara aware of the fact rather than keeping it a "secret" for the sake of the Santa Barbara reputation. Gang life is the lifestyle these boys chose, just how bums choose to live on our streets and flood State st. Just how these honor students you think deserve front page rather than these cases choose to study hard for a higher education, it may not be the right choice but a personal choice nonetheless. Ruben was barely 16 when this occurred, teenagers at that age are just trying to fit in somewhere and unfortunately he was fitting into the wrong crowd. We don't have to think so far back to age 30, even at his young age of 19, I am so sure he wouldn't have committed this same crime. Unfortunately again he now has to face the music and spend if not the rest but most of his life behind bars in prison not being allowed the freedom to have a family and the chance to make better decisions.